Even the most beautiful stories have to come to an end at some point.
Andreas Ulmer and FC Red Bull Salzburg – a relationship that is no longer found very often in modern football.
Hardly any other player is so emblematic of the historical dominance with which the “Bulls” have shaped Austrian football in recent years. The 38-year-old Upper Austrian played an incredible 420 Bundesliga games over the course of his career, most of them in the Salzburg jersey.
And yet – after 15 years, the dream marriage between the arch-Mozartstadt native and the Austrian series champion will end next summer. A calf injury brought a sudden, premature end to Ulmer’s final Bundesliga season with his favorite club (all information>>>).
What remains is history. The 37-year-old is an integral part of Bundesliga history not only as their “record champion”.
Who else was on the pitch when he made his debut in 2005? And what else was going on 19 years ago? Who did Ulmer play with most often? Who did he have the most duels with? What is his record against each opponent?
LAOLA1 has compiled a lot of data and facts – including the only Bundesliga teams against which Ulmer is without a win and the reason why he once played 37 games in a Bundesliga season.
BALANCE SHEET
Games Wins Draws Losses 420 274 90 56
The numbers are impressive. Ulmer has played 34,251 minutes in the Bundesliga so far, which is equivalent to almost 24 days! His points average of 2.17 per game is definitely impressive.
As a defensive player, his scoring numbers are also worthy of honor: 17 goals and 68 assists. The Upper Austrian was substituted on a total of 32 times and substituted 64 times, he saw 32 yellow cards, not a single yellow-red card and two red cards.
HIS DEBUT
A few facts about Ulmer’s Bundesliga debut in May 2005:
- On this last match day, SK Rapid was already confirmed as champions ahead of GAK. The relegated team was Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz, SV Ried was promoted. Christian Mayrleb from FC Superfund Pasching was named top scorer (21 goals).
- Hans Krankl was the ÖFB team boss and had used, among others, Toni Ehmann, Didi Kühbauer, Roli Kirchler, Markus Kiesenebner and Wolgang Mair in the last international match.
- George W. Bush was US President, Heinz Fischer had been Austrian Federal President for less than a year, Wolfgang Schüssel was Federal Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder was German Chancellor.
- “Ch!pz” by Cowboy was number 1 on the Austrian and German charts. In the USA, “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani topped the charts.
- Films such as “Star Wars: Episode II – Revenge of the Sith”, “Erkan & Stefan – Death Comes Krass” and “The Monster-in-Law” were released in Austrian cinemas.
- The ORF was currently casting the participants for the first season of Dancing Stars, including Toni Polster, Arabella Kiesbauer, Peter Rapp, Patricia Kaiser and the eventual winner Marika Lichter.
THE PASSAGE OF TIME
Andreas Ulmer has undergone many type changes over the years. We have a photo from each season:
JOINT BUNDESLIGA GAMES
Name
Joint Bundesliga games Valon Berisha 135 Alexander Walke 133 Christoph Leitgeb 124 Andre Ramalho 122 Christian Schwegler 120 Jonatan Soriano 112 Takumi Minamino 111 Martin Hinteregger 90 Stefan Lainer 88 Cican Stankovic 86
Photo: © GEPA
Logically, it is a “Salzburg selection” that has played most of the Bundesliga games alongside Ulmer.
The left-back was most often supported by the now LASK professional Valon Berisha. The Swedish-born Norwegian, who then became a Kosovar team player, appeared together with Ulmer 135 times.
If you count all competitive games, another former teammate is in pole position. Andre Ramalho played together with Ulmer 195 times, Berisha is second in this ranking with a total of 192 games.
MATCH AGAINST CLUB
Club Games Points Average points Rapid 49 95 1.94 Austria Vienna 46 96 2.09 Sturm 45 88 1.95 WAC 33 70 2.12 Ried 32 70 2.19 Altach 27 58 2.15 LASK 27 54 2.00 Mattersburg 26 57 2.19 Admira 25 53 2.12 Wr. Neustadt 16 40 2.50 St. Pölten 14 38 2.17 Hartberg 13 37 2.85 Kapfenberg 12 28 2.33 FC Wacker 11 25 2.27 WSG Tirol 11 30 2.73 Grödig 10 26 2.60 Austria Kärnten 8 17 2.13 Austria Klagenfurt 7 19 2.71 RB Salzburg 3 1 0.33 Austria Lustenau 2 6 3.00 Blau-Weiß Linz 2 1 0.50 GAK 1 3 3.00
Ulmer has had 22 different opponents in his Bundesliga career so far. The Upper Austrian dueled most often with SK Rapid, and he also achieved the most wins (28) against Hütteldorfer. But Ulmer also won 28 times against former club Austria Vienna. The defensive player scored most often against his favorite opponents Rapid and SCR Altach (3 goals each).
Ulmer is so far unbeaten against Wiener Neustadt, St. Pölten, Hartberg, Wacker Innsbruck, Grödig, Austria Klagenfurt, Austria Lustenau and GAK. And he has only ever been able to win against two clubs: against his current employer Red Bull Salzburg (one draw and two defeats) and FC Blau-Weiß Linz (one draw and one defeat).
PLAY AGAINST PLAYERS
Name
Bundesliga games against each other Mario Sonnleitner 37 Christopher Wernitznig 32 Jörg Siebenhandl 28 Michael Liendl 28 Stefan Hierländer 27
Photo: © GEPA
Andreas Ulmer and Mario Sonnleitner crossed swords for the first time in the Bundesliga on October 1, 2006 in the GAK duel against Austria Vienna. The second time was on August 31, 2008 in the duel between SV Ried and SK Sturm Graz.
This is a reminder that the two Bundesliga warriors have a past with other clubs. Logically, the duo dueled most often in the meetings between Salzburg and Rapid. The last time they played against each other was on August 3, 2022 at Hartberg against Salzburg.
Ulmer leads the head-to-head with 21 wins, compared to eleven defeats with 5 draws.
Some long-serving Bundesliga faces follow in the seats. Ulmer met Michael Liendl 28 times in the upper house. However, the two had already had the pleasure of playing seven times in the second level, then known as the Red Zac First League, in the matches of the second team from Austria Vienna against Kapfenberg.
HIS COACHES
Name
Bundesliga games Jesse Marsch 59 Roger Schmidt 56 Marco Rose 54 Matthias Jaissle 47 Oscar Garcia 44 Huub Stevens 38 Ricardo Moniz 27 Adi Hütter 21 Paul Gludovatz 21 Co Adriaanse 15 Gerhard Struber 12 Thomas Letsch 2 Frenkie Schinkels 2 Peter Stöger 1 Gerhard Schweitzer 1 Florens Koch 1 Onur Cinel 1
Reduced purely to the Bundesliga, Ulmer played the most often under Jesse Marsch, namely 59 times.
If you count all competitive games, Marco Rose is clearly ahead. The left-back played a total of 96 times under the guidance of the current Leipzig coach – including “only” 54 times in the Bundesliga.
Otherwise, logically, all of the “Bulls” coaches of the recent past can be found here. There were only a few long periods on the bench. In 2010/11, Ulmer only played nine times on the way to finishing runner-up to Sturm Graz, but this was largely due to injury.
ITS STAGES
Photo: © GEPA
For what seems like an eternity of time that the veteran has been plowing the left flank in the domestic Bundesliga, he has done so in surprisingly few stadiums. Ulmer has played in the championship at 22 different venues so far.
These are the Happel Stadium, the old Hanappi, the new Allianz Stadium, the Generali Arena in various expansion stages, the Liebenauer Stadium in Graz, the Rieder Stadium, the Lavanttal Arena in Wolfsberg, the Mattersburg Poplar Stadium, the Altacher Stadium, the Südstadt, the Linzer Gugl, the Paschinger Waldstadion, the old Wiener Neustädter Stadium, the arena in St. Pölten, the Kapfenberg Stadium, the one in Hartberg, the Innsbruck Tivoli, the Grödiger Stadium, the Wörthersee Stadium, the Reichshofstadion, the Hofmann Personal Stadium on the banks of the Danube in Linz and of course the Red Bull Arena.
HIS TITLE
Photo: © GEPA
Football Austria sometimes finds it difficult to finally clarify its record champion questions.
It is clear that Ulmer is a “record champion” as an individual player. However, whether with 13 or 14 titles varies from source to source.
His 13 championship titles with Salzburg are beyond dispute. In addition, he was in the Austria squad in 2005/06, but was not on the field for a single minute of the game.
No matter how you calculate it: this yield is definitely impressive.
FUN FACTS
- The Bundesliga consisted of 36 match days when it still consisted of ten clubs. Nevertheless, Ulmer managed the feat of playing 37 games in a Bundesliga season in the 2008/09 season. How? He played for SV Ried until the winter break and played all 22 games played up to that point. In the winter he moved to Salzburg, but the game in the 22nd round of the “Bulls” was postponed to the spring, which is why he played there 15 times was.
- The left-back appeared in four Bundesliga games in which his club – Salzburg each time – scored eight goals. He himself only contributed one assist to these 32 goals.
- Ulmer has so far been spared from really bad defeats in his long Bundesliga career. Two 4-1 defeats were the “worst”, curiously enough both times they were games with Salzburg against Altach.
- Ulmer wore five different shirt numbers in the Bundesliga: at Austria 37, 2 and 27, at Ried 4, at Salzburg always 17.
- In the 2004/05 season, the following players, among others, made their Bundesliga debut: Veli Kavlak, Mario Sonnleitner, Erwin Hoffer, Marc Janko, Johnny Ertl, Hannes Aigner, Jürgen Patocka, Jürgen Macho, Nenad Bjelica and Jung-won Seo.
- After dad Gerhard Ulmer and uncle Friedrich Ulmer once played for VOEST Linz in the top division, there have only been 18 years in the 49-year history of the Austrian Bundesliga without an Ulmer player.
- In the left-back position, Ulmer has had to contend with numerous internal competitors over the years. At Austria, Didier Dheedene, Sasa Papac and Ronald Gercaliu were still overpowering for the young man from Ulm. In Ried he had Pa Saikou Kujabi firmly under control. In Salzburg, the “match” with Dusan Svento bothered him for a long time, and Manuel Pamic, Stefan Stangl, Gideon Mensah and Patrick Farkas, among others, then bit their teeth into it.
2024-04-25 12:59:46
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